chasing cars
by miller26e
Summary: Three weeks every summer, that's all they had. But it was enough for them. one-shot; Niley


_**I was searching through my documents and found this. It's a story I wrote a long time ago. The title comes from the song Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol; I went through my music library and thought that this one fit well with the story. **_

_**~xoxo~**_

The first summer they spent in Maine was the summer of her tenth year. She was upset that her parents had made her spend an entire three weeks away from home. They were from California and Maine was way too far away from all of her friends. She refused to talk to her parents on the entire plane ride there. Then she still wouldn't talk to them when they got to their brand new summer home. She stomped up to her bedroom (or the room she had quickly claimed for herself), and slammed the door.

The next morning, her mom knocked softly. "Miley, honey?"

"What?" she yelled.

She opened her door. "Listen, I know you're upset that you had to come here, but you do not need to take that tone with me young lady. We're only here for a couple weeks and then you can go back with your friends."

"Sorry…" Miley mumbled.

"So do you want to go to the beach? It's right across the street."

She shrugged.

"Come on Smiley, you know how much you love the beach."

She smiled because her mom was right, she did love the beach. "Okay mom. Can I wear my new bathing suit?"

"Of course sweetie. Can you be ready in twenty minutes? Brandi and Braison really want to get down there.

"Okay." She quickly got into her suit and bounced downstairs to the kitchen. Both her siblings were anxiously waiting in the front yard. Even her little sister Noah was in her small bathing suit, resting on her mom's hip.

"Ready to go baby girl?" her dad asked with a smile. She bet he was just happy that she had stopped moping.

"Yeah!" Miley ran outside as fast as she could. She made it to the end of the driveway and looked both ways, (really, she wasn't supposed to cross the street alone but she wasn't really thinking in this circumstance).

Miley could hear her parents screaming behind her, but she wasn't paying them any attention. She got across the street safely, but ended up slamming into another person on the sidewalk.

"Whoa!" the person yelled.

"I'm sorry!" Miley exclaimed. She felt tears threaten to come out of her eyes and she blinked rapidly to stop them. Her knee was cut up from when she fell and her hands were scraped up as well.

"It's okay." The boy grabbed her carefully by the hands and helped her to her feet. He was cute. Well as cute as a boy could be when she still thought that all boys were weird.

"Miley Ray!" She winced at the sound of her mom's panicked voice. She quickly ran up to her and wrapped her arms around her. "Don't you ever do that again."

"Mom, I'm fine."

"You're not fine! Look at those scrapes!"

"Seriously, I'm fine." She didn't want to be that girl whose mom babied her, so she just sucked it up and wiped away the couple tears that managed to escape.

"So you're Miley?"

She turned back to the boy who she had bumped into, "Huh?"

"Your name is Miley?"

"Oh, yeah," she smiled. "What's yours?"

"I'm Nick. I'm ten. How old are you?"

"I'm ten too!" Miley exclaimed. "Do you want to go to the beach with us?"

"Sure!"

And that's how it started. One of the best friendships of her life. It turns out that Nick spent every summer here in Maine with his family. He had two older brothers and one younger brother. They were all from New Jersey.

So for three weeks out of every year, they were best friends. They did everything together. From swimming in the ocean to exploring the town and she loved every minute of it. At the end of those three weeks, she never wanted to leave. Miley wished that the both of them could stay in that little beach town in Maine for the rest of their lives.

But unfortunately, she had to go back to her real life. Nick and her were never more than best friends. At least not until her fifth summer of visiting there. They were both fifteen and the romantic attraction was completely obvious. He was her first kiss, her first 'true love' if that's what you want to call it. He was her boyfriend for exactly two and a half weeks, but then they broke it off because they lived on opposite sides of the country.

Cue the summer of her sixteenth year.

Miley walked out of her family's house and breathed in the air of Maine. She loved it.

She smiled when she saw him waiting at the end of the driveway. She practically ran all the way there.

"Nick!" she exclaimed, flinging herself into his arms.

"Hey Miles!" he laughed. He hugged her tightly and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

She sighed and pulled away. "I have to tell you something."

He noticed the solemn look on her face, "What?"

"I have a boyfriend."

He dropped his arms quickly. "Oh."

"Nick…"

"It's fine, babe. We both know that we have separate lives outside of these three weeks. We can't just stop them for each other. Really, it's fine. We're still best friends, right?"

"Yeah…definitely," Miley said unsurely. She had expected him to take the news differently. Was it selfish of her to want some jealously from him?

"Good." He wrapped his arms around her shoulders

But then her family came back for the summer of her seventeenth year.

She and her boyfriend had broken up earlier that year and so she was free and single. They had gotten to Maine earlier than they expected, so as soon as she flung her bag on her bed, she ran all the way to Nick's house.

Miley frantically knocked on his door and waited for someone to answer. It took several minutes for someone to finally answer. Nick stood there rubbing his eyes and still in his pajamas. He glanced at her blearily and his eyes became wide when he realized who was on his front porch. "Miles?"

"Nick! I um…well we got in early so I figured I would come visit. Why the hell are you still sleeping? It's two in the afternoon!"

"Well I've had to sleep a whole lot during these last few weeks to prepare for the next three weeks with you."

"Shut up," she laughed, "So are you going to invite me in or what?"

"Oh of course," he stepped back so that she could walk in.

She turned to him, "Hey Nick?"

"Yes Miss Miley?"

"Josh, my boyfriend, and I broke up. I just thought you should know."

"Oh…" He said it carefully, but there was a hint of a smile on his face.

Miley and Nick both lost their virginities to each other that summer. It happened under the stars on a warm, July night. It was absolutely perfect.

That night, as Miley lay snuggled up to Nick, she looked up at him, "Nicky?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You can always ask me stuff, Miley Ray."

"Why haven't you had a girlfriend? I mean, you're like the perfect guy. Cute, funny, sweet, athletic, you're…everything, It's almost creepy."

He laughed, "Well if you must know, I have had girlfriends. They just never last until the summer."

"Oh…" She stayed quiet for a minute, lost in her thoughts. "Nick?"

"Yes Miles?"

"Why have none of them lasted until the summer?"

He sighed and pulled her closer to him, "I think you know exactly why."

The next summer came along and Nick hadn't heard anything from Miley yet. He knew that her family had already arrived in Maine, so he found it weird that she hadn't dropped by or called him yet. He finally decided that he would go check out her house.

He walked the short walk over to her house and knocked on their door. After a couple seconds Tish, her mom, opened it.

"Oh, hello Nick. What can I do for you?"

"Hey Tish. Is Miley home? I haven't heard from her yet."

Tish frowned, "She didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?" he asked confused.

"Miley isn't coming for another week. She spent a month in Europe with some friends as a graduation present…I thought that she would have called you."

"Oh…" Nick said disappointed. "Can you just tell her to give me a call when she arrives?"

"Definitely. And just because she isn't here doesn't mean that you have suddenly become a stranger to us. You know how much we love your family."

He smiled, "Thank you. I better get going…I'm taking Frankie to the beach."

"Of course. Bye Nick."

"Bye."

So an entire week went by. Nick found it strange to be spending those days without her, but he found other ways to occupy his time. He even met a group of people his age to hang out with.

But as soon as she called, exactly one week into her family's vacation, he dropped his other friends to hang out with her. They met up on the beach.

But she wasn't alone.

Trailing behind the bright-eyed, all-smiles Miley were two other people. "Nick!" she exclaimed, wrapping him in a hug.

"Hey Miles. Who are your friends?"

"Oh!" she said, and then she turned toward them. "This is Demi, my best friend since pre-school. I think I've mentioned her to you several times."

"Of course," he said, and he leaned forward to shake her hand. Then he glanced at the other figure who had wrapped his arms protectively around Miley.

"And this is Liam, my boyfriend."

"Oh…boyfriend." Grudgingly, he shook his hand too. "Nice to meet you."

"They just tagged along with me from Europe. I hope that's okay."

"Yeah. That's fine," he said awkwardly. "I can't hang out tomorrow night though. Some friends of mine invited me to this exclusive party thing. I can't really miss it."

Miley was obviously disappointed with Nick's plans, but she just shrugged, "It's okay. We've got two weeks."

"Yeah…two weeks."

For the entire two weeks, Nick and Miley kept their distance from one another. They still hung out, but it was no longer just the two of them together. It was now one large group that consisted not only of Miley's friends, but of Nick's as well. Although, Liam did leave a couple days before everyone else did so that he could get back to California.

On the very last day, Nick was standing at the end of their driveway, waiting to wish Miley goodbye. She walked out to him slowly; they didn't talk a lot this summer.

"So I'll see you next year?" Miley asked hopefully.

He looked down at the ground. "I don't think I'm coming back next summer. I'll be busy with school and stuff."

"But…you have to come back Nick. You have to."

"Miley…I love you."

"Nick-,"

"Let me finish. I love you Miley Ray, but we can't be together yet. Our relationship wouldn't be able to stay alive. We haven't seen enough of the world yet. So go with Liam, go to college, and have the time of your life. And if you still want me to come back here in four years, then I'll know and I'll be waiting for you."

By now, tears were spilling gently down Miley's cheeks. "I don't want to lose you."

He took her hands in his. "You'll never ever lose me. Not ever. I'll always be just a phone call away."

"But-," though she was cut off by her parents who were calling her over.

"Looks like you have to go."

Miley hesitated, but then she threw her arms around his neck. "Four years. I'll see you in four years Nicky."

She gave him a quick kiss on the lips before she ran back to her car and hopped in. She and Demi had a separate car. As she drove away, she gazed out at Nick who gave her a small smile and a wave. Miley waved back and then she turned her gaze toward the road in front of her.

"You love him," Demi said smiling.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Miles! Why didn't you stay with him? You could have spent a couple more weeks here. You don't leave for college until August."

Miley didn't say anything at first. She simply kept her eyes fixed on the road. But then she said, "Because it's not our time to be together yet. But that time will come. Eventually it's going to come. I just have to be patient."

"You're crazy. He loves you, you love him. It's that simple."

"Trust me Dem, it's anything but simple."

She leaned back in her seat, "I trust you. I think you're insane for driving away from that boy, but I trust you."

"Good. Four years Demi, four years."

**_FOUR YEARS LATER_**

She walked along the water, splashing her feet in the water and squishing the sand in between her toes. She hadn't been back since that last summer, the summer of her eighteenth year. Her parents had tried every year to get her to come with them back to Maine, but she refused every time; always saying that something with school or work came up that prevented her from going.

She had forgotten how beautiful it was, how serene. Especially when all of the tourists had gone inside and the only things left were the stars and the beach.

Miley stopped in her tracks when she saw him sitting there in their spot. It was 'their' spot for a reason that no one ever knew. It wasn't because that was the spot where they first made love or because they always sat there when they went to the beach.

It was because on that very first day they met, that was the spot where they built sandcastles and ate ice cream. The spot where they essentially became best friends.

"Hey stranger," she said as she walked up behind him. He turned slowly and smiled when he saw her.

They both looked different, a little older and a little wiser. His hair was shorter, her hair was longer, but their smiles were still the same.

"Hi there Smiles. You showed up."

"Of course I showed up. It's been four years hasn't it?"

"I was hoping that you would show up."

"And I was hoping that you would show up," she smiled.

He chuckled, "So are you going to hug me or what?"

Miley walked slowly toward him and let Nick wrap his arms tightly around her. She breathed in his scent and nuzzled into his neck. "I missed you."

He hugged her tighter and said quietly, "I missed you too."

She pulled away briefly so that she could look into his eyes. "So what is? Are we starting over? Starting new?"

Nick smiled, "Neither."

"Neither?"

"We're just finally starting Miley."

_**~xoxo~**_

**Eh, I love the plot, but I don't think the writing is necessarily my best. This was just a short one-shot to tide you guys over until I update Back to Home. Just so everyone knows, the next chapter of Back to Home is actually done (and it's pretty long), I just want to get most of the chapter after that finished before I post it. I hope everyone liked this one-shot!**

**Oh, and I'm way too tired to actually proofread this so if I made any glaring mistakes, please let me know. :)**

**follow me on twitter/ imagineyourlife**


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